Automatic electric crossing-gate.



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llm/Lhililk--m SIMM Gnade? N.sa4,z5. PATBMED APB.14,1908.

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AUTMATICl ELECTRIC CROSSING GATE.

uruonxon num 1011.21. nos'. A

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F. G. LAYHER. AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC CRCSSING GATE.

APPLICATIOI FILED SOY. 27, 1905.

3 BHhBETS-SHSBT 3.

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UNITED STATES FRANK G. LAYHER, OF JACIKSON, MICHIGAN Ipoeication of Lettore Patent.

. .au'r'oxanc smc'rnxc. espesura-Gars.

Patented April 14,1008.

annotata and ummm er, not. sains. stam.

fa'Be'it known that l, Fassi: G. Larsen, a

'ofthel United States, residing at @j n in the county of Jackson, in the State 'o 'Mich' n, have invented a useful Improvement 'n n :an Automatic Electric Groening-gate, of which the following is a specification.v Thiainvention-relates to a gate -for rail- 1=way crossings and to means for automaticraisingand lowering-the gate: the gate bang lowered as the train 'appwaches the over the r v 1a The invention consists of a gate' mounted upoq-shaftgwhich shaft is' turned through uffa revolution by means'of an motoryofan electric circuit includladj'acent to one rail and upon te si ea'of the crossing and adapted t0, 'engaged by ilangesof the engine wheels;

of aayatem ofswitehes andrelays iii- -in the-.circuit wherebythe motoria .ai ao that the gale will bealtcrnately 'lowered and accompanying drawings: -Figure -1 e ifa diagrammatic view showi the circuits.

.2 is ancnd gate, a casipg being ahpwn in is' a side view, the gate being 'A man out, the casing being shown f ',-amiipnays beirxg nown gisfgramlw y. .4 isa nt ace view OLrtainaWitchcs and contactplates. Fig.

i va verticalsection` through the. switch.

` board, theswitcheabeingshown in eleva- Fig. liara detail perspective view of 4C v.whirl cxrcuitbreaki .and making means.

Fig. 7 lanend elevation of parte shown in perspectivein Fig. 6.

` ..Inthesedra ,B,CandDrepresent of -the`u`su 4kind and A' represcntsa al' le armature1 arranged between the poles ofthe relayaAmui B, and carryii a contact plate QB provided with suitab e contact pointu'. 'Curve'd'eontaet plates E'are placed u *a suitable base,"as for example upon n.

e0 prece of slate E andv upon the same ase are concentric contact plates E', the

.onda of which overlap-the` 'contact plates or strips E.

. 1 re resents the gate, which may be of any veloci construction and which is mounted uonng and atterthe train has passed rangement of t suitable Vcasing 3. The shaft M is also jour-- naled in the casing but passes looself through the base'E. and carries oppositely vrxtending switches E which are secured at their inner ends in a suitable'collar E which is riF'dly o any secrcd upon the shaft M rand which ia desirable insulatin material or which ia insulated from the s :aft M.

The outer end portion of each switch E slides upon the contact strips ranged upon the said sideof the collar E.- A

suitable motor F is arranged in the and is provided with an armature F-and fiel coils b. A suitable fear train G 'transmita rotarv motion from he shaft of the armature i" to the shaft 2 upon which the gate is mounted. A gcur wheel G is fixed u shaft 2 and meshes with the ear wheel M of the samedinmeter and iixe upon the shaft M whereby a inoveincnt of 90 of the shaft 2 will impart a quarter revolution to the gate to shaft M and to switches E".

o connect the motor in circuit and canse I the gate. to be moved in the pro rdirection and at the proper time, the ollowmg ar'- wircs is employed: Adjacent one side of the track 4, the rails of which form a part of the circuit, are placed contact points 5 upon pg positc sides of thecrossing barred' by' ponthe ie batteries and conductor gate. These contact points may be any desred distance from the crossing and are connected by a wire 6Z which extends parallel to the track. The wire is tapped; at the casing- 3 by; a wire] which extends to the relay A. A wire 8 leads from the relay A to a batter?y H and from the battery H to the track rai -upon the 'side opposite the contact points 5.

I The various ,circuits will be more clearly understood .by describing them in combination with the operation of the device: Asf suming that the gate is in its normal or upright position, a train approaching the crossing from either direction will bring" a il ofone of the drive wheels of the engine m l contact with one of the contact plates 5, and it will he obvious that these plates may of any desired length. conductor connecting thc rails 4 and a circuit will bc formed through the wire 7, .relay A and .wire 8. and the relay A will be enorgized from the battery ll and will attract the armature A', which attraction will bring the contact. plates B into engagement with conluponaahafj; 2, which shaft is journaled in a i' tact points B und a cixcuit will be formed The axle will serve as a- .mmme

through a wire 9 leading from one of the contact points B to the relay D by way of a wire 0 which tape the wire 9, and from the relay D through e-wire 1l, throu h'contact points l2 to a wire 13 to one of t e contact stripe'E along the switch E, through a sl` ht contact with the said strip E and throng i n wire 14 to the armature F of the motor F, mto a wire 15 to the other switch E und thepce to the curved contact strip E' with which the said switch El is in engagement, and thence through s wire 16 to contact points 17 and through a wire 18 to a wire 19, which extends to the other contact point B and in which'a suitable battery J is inserted.

-'l`he tield coils F are energized in the fillowing manner: The passage of current through the relay l) causes it to attract an armsturc D und the movement of this ernia'- ture closes contact points 2t), which points are arranged in pairs onepoint of each pnir being carried by the armature. The circuit is therefore completed from the wire ll,'which is connected to one of the seid contact points thro v l the wire 21, the iicld coils l'" and the wire 9 to the battery J. The motor being thus eet invmotion the shaft 2 is rotated hv the trein G and the gere is lowered.

gear

The rotation of the shaft 2 is transmitted' by the gears G and M' to the shaft M and the Y switch arms E ere moved over the curved A stripe Eend E' into a proximatelythe position shown hy the' otted lines in Fig.` l.

' 'Before this 'movement isv com leted the switch arms E' 'will have passe from and broken contact with thceontact strips upon winch they rest when the turning ni ,vement commences, and will he inA engagement with i the" other conccntricslly arranged strips. This movement of the switch arms will automatically cut out the armature Fi as soon as the switch arms have broken contact with the strips with which they originally engaged, and the further movement of the lswtttchnrms will be due to the momentum 'acquired yby the motor and ate, which momen'tumwlll carry the switc arms into-substanttall thel position shown by the dotted lines in `ig. l. The ,atc will now be in its lowered position an tact .withutheother .contact plate 51nd a circuit will he established 'through the relay A in the same manner :ts-at first.

To denergizc thc reley-A after the gate has reached the' lowered position and restore the nrmaturc'A. to the position shown. i-n lt'i 1, certain mea'ns are emplovcd which On the re-completion ol u circuit through the relay A and passage of the engine l'ro'm the second conl tact lute the n'rnmture A will he again attracted by the relay A und the contact plates B will signin nmkc contact nt the e5. points B. A circuit wili be estublishedrout ns the tact after the' train hasl passedthe crossing, 1t. will come into' con-Y senese through the wire 9', the relay C wire '24, con

switc arm E. thewire 15, armature wire 14, the other switch arm E, ltnp' y;

wire 27, contactoints 28, the wirel29', wire- 18, and wire 19 t rou h the hatteryrl tothe other point B. n It w1 l thus beobvious that' the current will pass through' the motor ari mature in the opposite direction and the reversal of the motor will serve to raisethe .pates in the same manner in which they were wered.

To energize the field coils F* for the' reversal of the motor F, current-is asse through the some points through the. ihllowing circuit. The energizix .of relay C at` tracts its armature C and t ls armature carf ries contact points 30, similar to the contact points .0 carried by the armature D'. ,A circuit is therefore completed from the wire 24 through the contact mints 30 and through the wire 2l to the field coils F and hack through the wire 19 to the battery J.- Itwill be noted that the contact points 12 and' 17 are carried by the 'arnleture C' 'and are broken when the armature is attracted and contact is marient the point 30. That the contact points-25 and 28 are carried'b'y the armature D rind are hrolt'en 'when the 'con-I.

tact is made et' the oints 20.

To cut out the re ey A when the gate rrrrhrc the umn of io trrvrl in either eine' tion an suitnhle tripping mechanism heemp oyed in. connection with a drong breaking device, and in the drawings, 1"'

illustrated a form consisting of an outwardly.'

extending arm E, on the base'fE which is secured n depending s ably insulated from the arm l il E carries s contact point'32 which'ia adsl?,

ed to he engaged by a contact 33 earned' the s ring cure two radial arms N and N"wh1 compound curved contact arms 34 and 35 their ends, .the said arms op sitelysrranged.. The 'action of these arms clearly shown in Fig. 6 andalso their relative arrangement with respect toeach other. Al the arm 34'pnsscs between the contacts 32 and 33 they -will be held apart and presented from, in any manner, accidental y coming into contact. As the arm 35 passes the' contact points, it will plus upon the outer side of the spring.: 0, and the curved'. rtion' of the arm 35 will force the spring inwardly and bring the contact points 32 and 33.nto

engagement, these points -being in circuit ints 25, wire 26, one o the etllipe E,

l the position. Aitor. the train .has passed the crossing and when it reaches the .w1-cond contact plato A the motor will be again automatically brought into the circuit and will be 5 driven in a direction revente to its former rotation and the gate will be elevated, the motor being again cut-out automatically as the` gate ap roaches an upright position.

It wl he obvious that the gate will be lowered by a train approaching from either direction and raised after a train has departed in either direction. a

It will be aim obvious that n duplicate gate can be arranged so that a gate will be' upon cach side ot' the track', the second gate lrcin f operated from the shaft 2, b v means of a suitable sprocket chain P, and shaft Q, but the number of gate: or the particular congtruction of the gate is not material to thiny invention.

Havi f thus fully described my invention what I c aim as new and dcsire to secure by Letters Patent is l. A device of the kind described com- 35 prising a vertically movable gate, a motor to o'gc'rate the gate, contact plates in the path oi, an engine on opposite sides of the gate, relays, a doublearmaturc between polea of adjacent relays, a base, curved contact strips onaaid base, concentrically arranged conl tact strips overlapping'the first mentioned -ntri a shaft switch arma carried b the sha1. opposxl: arrangml andmovab e on the contact strips, means for rotating the shaft in unison with the gate, and electrical l circuits including thc relays, switches, conl tact platee and motor.

' 2. In a device of thc kind descrilxid, the lcombination with a relay, of an electrical circuit. includin Y said relay, a base, an arm carried by tlu` nase, a spring carried bythe arm, there being cont-act points on thc base i and s ring, a rotatable shaft, radial arms carri b the shaft, and curved arms at the ends of t, e radial arms, said curved arms respectively forcing thc contact points of the base and spring into and out. of contact with each' other.

3. In a system for electrically operating crossing gates a track portion forming a portion of a circuit, said circuit being completed by entrance of a train on said track portionl a relay in said circuit, an armature co-acting with said relay and adapted when attracted to close a second circuit, a second relay, l

- motor, a reversing switch, said relay, moto! and switch being in the second circuit, a field coil circuit closed b the energizing 'of tht second rgla means or automatically breaking the sai circuits, and means for completing a third circuit and passing the current through the n'iotor in the opposite direction as the train leaves the track portion.

FRANK G. LAYIIEVR.

' Witnessca:

Gamma F. barium.'

' Hunan Bm'rrr. 

